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How to Harvest and Store Herbs - Frugal Friday

11:51, Friday, May 30, 2008 .. Posted in Food Preservation .. 0 comments .. Link

It's time for another addition of Frugal Fridays hosted by Crystal at Biblical Womanhood!

How to Harvest and Store Herbs

I got this originally from an email, but it did not include the author's name. If you know the author, please email me and I'll be more than happy to give credit!

Most herbs for culinary use are ready to harvest just before flowers appear on the plant. If you harvest them after the flowers appear there will be a reduction in flavor. Do not cut the herbs too close to the ground, if you leave some lower foliage you may be able to get several cuttings during the growing season. The best time of day to harvest herbs is in the early morning, just as the sun dries the dew from the leaves. The oils are the strongest in the plants at this time. As soon as the herbs have been cut, waste no time in getting them ready for drying. If the foliage is dirty, wash the leaves, then shake off the excess water. The tops and leaves can be picked off heavy-stemmed herbs like basil. This practice shortens the drying time and gives better flavor and color.

For herbs like parsley, leave most of the stems on until after drying. The most common method of drying herbs is also the most picturesque. The mention of herb drying inevitably conjures up images of colorful bunches of herbs hanging from a nail in someone's kitchen.

To dry herbs this way, simply gather the herbs and tie them in small bunches. These should be hung in a warm, dark and airy place for about two weeks until they are dry.

A variation of this would be to put each bunch in a perforated paper bag, then hang it up to dry. This method helps prevent the herbs from getting dusty, but will increase drying time by several days. This is a good way to dry the seed heads of coriander, dill and parsley.

Gather seed heads in the early stages of ripening, just as seeds turn from green to gray or brown. Harvest them as soon as the dew dries in the morning for maximum flavor.

Another variation of air-drying is to take the herb plants apart and spread those parts on screens to dry. A clean old window screen works well. Prop it up to permit the air to freely circulate through the screen. Place it out of direct sun, but avoid damp locations.

The fastest drying method is oven drying. Heat oven to 150 degrees F or less.

Place herbs on sheets of brown paper. Cut some slits in the paper to
maximize airflow through the herbs. Leave the oven door ajar to allow moisture to escape. In three to six hours the herbs should be crispy-crumbly.

Store your dried herbs in an airtight container, such as a glass jar. Herbs must be thoroughly dry before sealing in jars. Check after a few hours and again after a few days to make sure there is no evidence of moisture in the container.

If condensation develops, remove the herbs and dry them further to prevent molding in storage. Leave the herb foliage whole for storage. The flavor is retained longer when whole leaves are stored. Crumble the leaves when you are ready to use them. Keep dried herbs in a dark place. This preserves the natural color.

Remember to label all containers before storage, especially if you're a novice herb user. It's hard to tell all those grey-green leaves apart, and you'll have to rely upon knowing the different fragrances of herbs to identify them.

The flavoring strength of a dried herb declines with time and exposure to air and light. Properly stored dried herbs should retain their flavor about a year just in time for replacement with your new harvest!

Tomato Surprise

10:02, Thursday, May 8, 2008 .. Posted in Food Preservation .. 0 comments .. Link

This year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes, but the funny thing is, we didn’t plant them where they’re growing! We had several volunteer plants pop up in a garden we were letting rest for a year. It was the same garden where we usually plant tomatoes and I guess a few of the seeds hung around over the winter and decided that they liked us. So, late this summer I looked out the kitchen window and saw red all over a tall sunflower. I went outside to check it out, and sure enough, we had tomato vine all over my sunflower stalks! These tomatoes didn’t grow really big; most were no bigger than large marbles. There were cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes and roma tomatoes growing. My youngest son, who’s three, would go out side and eat them as a snack, he LOVES tomatoes.

Well, this fall, we went to a garage sale where we bought an older Excalibur Dehydrator for the exorbitant price of twenty-five cents. The only thing wrong with it was that the door was broken and you have to tape it closed for it to stay on. My husband asked me what I was going to do with it, as he really didn’t think that we needed it. I told him that I was going to dry all those volunteer tomatoes. One thing you have to know about me, I love a bargain and free stuff thrills be like nothing else. I just couldn’t see those free tomatoes go to waste! You see, there wasn’t enough of them to can as sauce, so drying them offered the perfect opportunity to preserve them for use over the winter. Once dried, they will be the perfect quick addition to soups, stews and chili. And, did I mention they were free?

So one afternoon, I gave each of the boys bags and told them to pick until there were enough of those tiny gems to fill up the five dehydrator trays. While the kids picked, I washed them, sliced them in half, and placed them on dehydrator trays. The kids made four trips after those tomatoes, just to get enough. My oldest usually bringing in a good sized bag of them and my youngest bringing back tomato seeds on his cheeks and lips. All in all, they had a good time out in the sunny, autumn day. So, now I have five trays of tomatoes drying and am happy with the knowledge that I was able to preserve a surprise gift from God for use when tomatoes aren’t so plentiful or free. Ain’t God Grand!